Hoyer: Republican Health Care Bills Are Simply Political Messaging

“This bill and the other bill are not real. They are purely partisan politics. They have nothing to do with reality. That, my friends and Mr. Speaker, the American people ought to know that is the truth. These bills take time [on the House Floor] with no effect, and everybody in this House, the Majority Leader and 434 of the rest of us know these bills are going nowhere.”

"The President has already taken action to make sure that businesses - some 4% of the businesses in America, by the way, are affected by what the President did and your purported bill - to make sure that they can do the paperwork properly. The Administration took the right action. Your first bill [H.R. 2667, delaying the employer responsibility requirement] is not necessary. You know it."

“Your second bill [H.R. 2668, delaying the individual responsibility requirement], which takes away the individual mandate, which America ought to know, Mr. Speaker, would undermine the very benefits that are today being enjoyed by seniors, by young people, by children with pre-existing conditions and by so many millions of Americans enjoying the benefits today.”

“Isn't it a shame when millions of Americans have no health care, when millions of Americans have no jobs, when people are being furloughed in the defense sector, undermining the security of our country in Virginia and in Maryland, undermining our national security, that we spend our time here on this Floor with ‘gotcha’ politics, with no expectation whatsoever that either of these bills will ever become law? This is simply messaging.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we really need to come together and talk about how we reasonably move forward. Speaker Boehner said when the President was re-elected, well, the Affordable Care Act is here. But you continue, you continue this very day to pretend you're going to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That's maybe what your constituents want. That's maybe good politics for you, but it's lousy substance. That's the truth. This is a gotcha vote."

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On Tuesday, The House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business and recess immediately. The House will reconvene at approximately 10:45 a.m. for the purpose of receiving, in a Joint Meeting of Congress, His Excellency Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel.